International Football History and Statistics

On this day in football history

• 1882 Old Etonians beat Blackburn Rovers 1-0 in the FA Cup Final and were the first provincial side to reach that stage of the competition.
• 1891 When Blackburn Rovers beat Notts County 3-1 in the FA Cup Final their half-back James Forrest became the first and only professional player to gain five winners medals. He was also the first professional to be selected for England and was capped 11 times between 1884 and 1890. In later life he became a Rovers director and died in December 1925 at the age of 59.
• 1910 Arthur Bridlett of Sunderland exercised his right not to play on Good Fridays and Christmas Days on religious grounds.
• 1933 Edgar Kail played in his last amateur international against Scotland at Dulwich. A schoolboy international during the First War he gained his first amateur cap in 1921 and played in three matches for the full England side during their 1929 summer tour. Probably the finest amateur inside-forward of the inter-war period he spent his career with Dulwich Hamlet and won a medal for every competition which the club entered except the FA Cup although he won Amateur Cup medals in 1920 and 1932.
• 1964 The Football League and the Professional Footballers Association reached agreement on the new players' contract. The main change was the introduction of the monthly contract which enabled dissatisfied players to be retained at their current rates of pay once their contract had expired. At the end of that month the player could appeal for judgement by the League Management Committee with regard to a transfer and the case would be judged on its merits. In addition, contracts could be for longer than one year.